


You Never Get a Second Chance (To Make a First Impression)

by RavenMoon33



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: AND SO MUCH SNARK, Basically the entire precinct, But nothing bad I promise, Canon-Typical Violence, Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900 are Siblings, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, Feral Behavior, Gavin Reed Being Less of an Asshole, Gavin Reed is Bad at Feelings, Good Elijah Kamski, Good Friend Tina Chen, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Possessive Upgraded Connor | RK900, Protective Upgraded Connor | RK900, Swearing, aka feral rk900, and maybe more - Freeform, and probably hank too let's be honest, because cyberlife, because of gavin, because they're cops and have to deal with some crap, because you can't write gavin and rk900 without at least a little bit of snark, but it's for a reason don't worry, cyberlife trying to screw everybody over, he's just socially awkward and trying to hide it, i love that that's a tag, if I feel brave enough to write it, might have smut later, sibling reconciliation, we'll find out together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:08:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22781521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenMoon33/pseuds/RavenMoon33
Summary: Gavin Reed is perfectly content in life ignoring his half-brother and pretending he still hates androids at work, but when he's stuck with the new RK900 as a partner, his world is about to get a whole lot more hectic. (And maybe, just maybe, a little bit more fun).
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 38
Kudos: 206





	1. "I remember the first day I ever looked into your eyes and felt my entire world flip"

Despite what a lot of the people in his life seemed to think, Gavin’s hatred of androids didn’t stem from ignorance. If anything it was the opposite. He knew more about androids- about their creation and everything hidden beneath the layers of synthetic skin and plastic metal- than most people ever would. He knew the placement of their primary biocomponents regardless of what model they were, because that never changed. Something about effectiveness in position or some other bullshit.

He knew the foundational coding in their software- the lines of numbers and letters that told them how to blink, how to simulate breathing, how to access folders holding every gigabyte of information stored on the hardware serving as their brains. He knew all this because he’d been there when Cyberlife was still only a spark in his brother’s eyes. There when Elijah would drag him out of his bed in the middle of the night to answer stupid questions on the best way to visually differentiate an android from a human. Gavin was the one who first suggested something like the loading circle stuck somewhere on their face, though he’d said it with every bit of sarcasm and mockery his half-asleep brain could convey. Elijah, however, liked the idea, and gave it the dual purpose of revealing to some extent what state the android’s brain was in. Every time he looked at the spinning circle attached to the side of every android’s head, it was a bitter reminder of the long nights he’d pretend to be annoyed as Elijah filtered every new idea through Gavin’s ‘fresh’ perspective.

_“These stuffy old investors don’t know the first thing about computers and they think I’m going to take their opinions seriously?”_

_“I’m not exactly an expert either Eli.”_

_“Please, much as you might try to avoid learning wherever possible little brother, you’ve spent too much time helping me to not understand it well enough for this. Now, explain again why this wouldn’t be a good feature to incorporate?”_

_“Because who in their right mind wants to eat peanut butter made in a goddamn android?!”_

_“They would know it was made with real peanuts-”_

_“Yeah, cuz’ they’d watch the thing chewing the nuts first you goddamn lunatic! Who the hell would wanna eat half-digested peanuts? That’s just disgusting.”_

Every time he watched artificial skin peeling back over the cold plastic beneath, he’d remember Elijah’s drunk bitching after a day of painstakingly molding the software that would enable the ability.

_“I mean, who wants skin all the goddamn time? Doncha jus’ wanna not have skin sometimes Gav?”_

_“Elijah, I swear to God if you don’t shut up and just watch the movie I’m going to make myself an only sibling.”_

He hated the reminders of what was one of the few times in his life when he could describe himself as happy. So, by extension, he hated androids. He convinced himself it didn’t really matter- they were, after all, only bundles of wires and plastic plating and cableports.

When they flinched at harsh physical contact, it was the programming meant to make them appear a little more human and a little less disconcerting to the actual humans nearby, not actual pain. When something sparked in Connor’s eyes as Gavin held a gun up to his forehead, he knew it was just Connor’s processing system deciding the best course of action, not the fear it might appear to be.

But then...but then...he was in his apartment, absentmindedly flipping through the channels on his tv when he saw what was on the news. Police firing on unarmed androids. Recycling camps. The deviant leader Markus stepping forward- facing down a dozen gun barrels in the process- and leading his people in a song for freedom. Gavin couldn’t deny what he’d thought impossible up to this point. The androids were alive. They felt. They were people, and they were being punished for it.

It made him feel sick to his stomach. He stayed in place for an hour, gnawing his nailbeds raw and pacing back and forth incessantly, right up until the neighbors finally stopped arguing as they did every night and left the building in a dead silence. He couldn’t stand it. He grabbed his jacket along with his keys, racing out of his door to get some fresh air. An hour later he was dragging an android back through it.

He never breathed a word of the long night to another soul. About the blue staining his floorboards until it evaporated a few hours later. About the shaking of his fingertips as he tried desperately to remember everything he knew about the proper placement of thirium regulators. About the android’s sobs as she begged Gavin not to leave her alone, simulated (yet all-too-real) tears running down her cheeks. About the phantom pain in his hand from when she’d clutched it too tightly. About the roiling nausea and guilt churning in his stomach when her regulation system forced her into a stasis mode to work on self-repairment, the way it made her look dead. He got her to one of the safehouses already being set up a day later, where another android quickly took over with fixing her up. He was gone before anyone thought to ask his name or where he’d found her.

It didn’t matter to him, he told himself. He ignored the voice inside whispering he was a horrible liar.

A few days later the whole situation somehow managed to get even shittier.

He’d been walking briskly down the sidewalk, gritting his teeth against the sunset chill and drizzle of rain sneaking cold fingers past the worn layer of his jacket. Normally he would’ve been holed up in his apartment during this weather, staving off the cold with a coffee and nestled safely in his nest of blankets with his cat, but his fingers were twitching and he was completely out of cigarettes. The past few days had proven particularly stressful, leading him to go through his stash a lot faster than he normally did. Desperate times called for desperate measures and all that shit. Luckily for him there was a convenience store only a few blocks away. Unluckily for him, it looked like the rain was only picking up and he hadn’t thought to bring an umbrella. Cursing himself and the weather, he shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and picked up his pace. But this was relatively normal for him.

It was as he headed home that his night would take a turn for the most definitely not normal.

A sound from the inside of an alleyway caught his attention. Normally he would’ve paid it no mind, but the instincts he had honed through years of detective work niggled at him to check it out. Sighing to himself- he really just wanted to go home and sleep- he turned into the alleyway. Further down, partially hidden by a large overflowing dumpster, four men looked to be taking turns beating up an android. The android was lying on the ground, skin completely gone and one arm missing. Judging by the stray glint of white from a trash heap nearby, the thugs had ripped the android’s arm right off of him.

“Stupid plastic fuck!” One of them shouted, slamming a baseball bat down onto the android’s torso. Despite the obvious power behind the swing, it didn’t seem to have any effect on the android, not so much as a dent in the chassis.

_Must be a pretty high-end model._ He couldn’t help but think to himself. If it wasn’t for the flicker of red Gavin could make out at the android’s temple, he would’ve thought the android was dead.

“Hey! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Gavin shouted, running forward. The four of them paused, turning to sneer at him.

“We ain’t doing nothing ‘cept showing this piece of shit its place.” The one on the left said, turning to spit at the frozen body.

“Yeah? Well you better fucking stop and get the fuck out of here.” Gavin snarled.

“Oh really?” The one with the bat stepped forward now, hefting it threateningly. “And why’s that?”

He instinctively reached for his gun, only to grasp at empty air. He’d left it at home, being off-duty and only going on what would've been a five minute walk from his apartment. Once again cursing his life choices, he nevertheless continued to stand tall, since he’d never really figured out when he should back down from a fight.

“Haven’t you been paying attention to the news you dumb piece of shit? These things are considered people now. You destroy one, it’s as good as murder. You really want to go to prison for the next 25 years over one of these tin cans?” The one with the bat continued to sneer menacingly at him, but the other three started looking a little nervous, exchanging looks between them. A beat of tense silence passed before one of them quickly skirted around the apparent ringleader to leave the alleyway.

“Hey, where the fuck are you going?!”

“I ain’t going back to prison man, I’m out. See you around.” The other two followed suit, heads down and murmuring their excuses before disappearing into the street. Huffing angrily, the remaining man glared at Gavin, pointing his bat threateningly at him.

“Just you wait asshole, one of these days these android fucks are gonna take over and you’ll be sorry you didn’t help wipe ‘em out when you had the chance.”

“Yeah yeah, get out of here before I call the fucking cops.” With one last glare the man left, making sure to clip Gavin with his shoulder on his way past him. Any other day he would’ve taken that as an excuse to throwdown, always happy to engage in a brawl, but right now the android laying helplessly in the rain was taking up too much of his attention to care about the asshole. After making sure the guy was indeed gone, Gavin rushed forward to see how badly the android was damaged.

“Hey! Can you hear me?” The android didn’t respond, its eyes remaining closed, but its LED kept swirling red.

“Listen, I don’t know if you can understand me but I need to get you out of the rain. I’m going to take you back to my place and see if I can help fix you. When the rain stops I’ll take you to a repair center or something alright?” The android didn’t respond, though Gavin hadn’t been expecting an answer. He grabbed the stray arm, swearing at the mangled end where it would normally be attached to the shoulder. He sincerely doubted he would be able to reconnect it now, though he still kept it in hand as he prepared to move the android. Grunting with the effort he carefully lifted the android, putting an arm around his waist and slinging the android’s arm over his shoulder.

“Alright here we go, nice and easy.” It was a good thing his landlord had finally gotten around to fixing the elevator- lugging the android’s dead weight up seven flights of stairs definitely would’ve screwed up his back for the remainder of the evening. It still wasn’t easy dragging the android down the hallway to his door, especially when his neighbor Lucia saw him doing so, but luckily she and him got along pretty well.

“What the fuck are you up to now Gavin?” She asked, pausing in the hallway to rest her trash bag on the floor, cane pointing menacingly at him. “Dragging androids in here at all manners of the day will only cause trouble for you later on, you know.”

“I know Lucia, I know.” He grunted out, trying to fish his keys out of his right pocket with his left hand without dropping the android. Tsking, Lucia hobbled over and grabbed the keys for him, unlocking the door and moving aside so he could get the android inside. After settling the unmoving android (why wasn’t it moving? Gavin couldn’t see any physical damage to its central processor, though maybe there was some internal damage he hadn’t found yet) he turned and found Lucia scowling at him, eyes roving his less-than-clean living room.

“I know I know, I need to take better care of myself and keep my place clean. I’ll take care of it when I don’t have an android bleeding out on my couch, yeah?”

“Don’t give me that snark Gavin; cop or not I will whack you.” She punctuated the threat with a wave of her cane. He raised his arms in surrender, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Alright, sorry.”

“You’d better be. I’m bringing over dinner tonight so you better get moving. I refuse to eat with your goddamn socks on the table.” He quickly glanced over and cringed when he saw some of his dirty clothes on the table, socks included. She sniffed, turning back into the hallway to pick up her garbage bag, mumbling under her breath about ‘idiot detectives’ and ‘stupid men can’t even pick up trash and put it in a can’. Shaking off his minor embarrassment, he ran out into the hallway after her.

“Wait Lucia, you go on home and start dinner, I can get your garbage for you.” She peered at him suspiciously. “Seriously, I’ve got it. I’ll just take it down with mine in a few minutes.” She sniffed again.

“Fine, but I expect you to eat all the food I bring over.”

“Of course. No one cooks like you do.” She harrumphed and handed the bag over to him, turning back down the hallway.

“I’ll be over in an hour, and I expect your apartment to be livable when I am!” Rolling his eyes good-naturedly, he dragged the garbage bag back in behind him and closed the door. Dropping the bag in the first out of the way spot he saw, he hurried over to where the android still lie prone. The mangled stump where its left arm used to be was still leaking blue, wires poking out haphazardly and red warning lights flickering from deeper in the chassis. Other than that, Gavin couldn’t make out any other physical damage, yet still the android didn’t move.

“Well shit, looks like we’ve got some work to do.”

An hour later found Gavin perched on the coffee table with a pen dangling loosely from his mouth, frowning down at his laptop. He’d plugged it into the port on the back of the android’s neck shortly after cleaning up the android and checking it over for whatever damage could be causing its paralysis, but even after removing its other arm and searching the inside of the chassis he couldn’t find any physical causes. He figured it had to be some kind of virus, though who made such a virus or for what reason was a complete mystery. Whoever it was definitely knew what they were doing though, since even a half hour after first connecting to the android he still couldn’t isolate the line of code responsible. A knock interrupted his thought process. He rolled his eyes when his cat, Pandora, meowed piteously from his bedroom, where he had to lock her away after her third attempt to climb onto the android.

“It’s open!” He shouted, not taking his eyes off the computer screen. The door opened and a disgusted groan followed.

“Gavin, what the hell have you been doing? This place is as much a pigsty as it was when you said you’d clean it.”

“I’ll get to it in a minute,” he mumbled absentmindedly, typing in another command and scowling even harder when a red warning popped up, “this stupid fucking virus is giving me more trouble than I thought it would.” She sighed and plopped a plate of food in front of him, sticking a fork in his unprotesting hand.

“Fucking eat you goddamn workaholic.” It took him a minute to obey, eyes glued to the screen as they were, but eventually he absentmindedly brought a bite of what he discovered to be her famous beef stroganoff to his mouth. He perked up immediately, finally tearing his attention away from his computer, only to find Lucia hobbling around his apartment with a trash bag in one hand and a wet rag in the other.

“Whoa whoa whoa, hold on Lucia, I can clean my own goddamn apartment-”

“Yeah you _can_ but you _don’t_ , which is why _I’m_ doing it. Get back to fixing your goddamn android and eating your goddamn food.” Grumbling mutinously, he nevertheless finished the rest of the stroganoff (fuck was she an amazing cook) and continued working on the android’s firewalls. Twenty minutes later (when Lucia had finished picking up trash and doing dishes and had apparently decided to tackle the thirium stains on the floor, even when Gavin told her it’d fade within a few hours) Gavin finally let out a triumphant shout, pumping his fists in the air.

“Yeah, fuck you virus!”

“Strange man.” Lucia grumbled, shaking her head even as she sat in Gavin’s armchair. “So what was it anyway?”

“Some weird fucking virus that paralyzed it- think it was timed or some shit. It wouldn’t have kicked in right away; would’ve slowly frozen its systems until it eventually couldn’t move or call for help. Explains how it got so far from any Cyberlife centers or android residencies, and why it didn’t fight back against those dumbasses in the alleyway.”

“So...you fixed it yeah?”

“Yeah I did. It’ll take a few minutes before the android can move at all though.”

“Who’dve done that do you think? Anti-android league maybe?”

“Nah probably not, it’s way too advanced for some rando to have made. It was either someone who worked at Cyberlife or some kind of computer genius, and they don’t have too many of those in the AAL.”

“I don’t know, you’re pretty good at all this technology shit.” He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, a little uncomfortable.

“I told you Lucia, I don’t run with that group anymore.”

“And it’s a good thing too. Bunch of dumbasses keep stirring up trouble, don’t want you getting into something you can’t get out of because of their stupidity.”

“Get myself into enough shit anyway.”

“You’re damn right.” He huffed a laugh. A moment of comfortable silence passed.

“Well, fun as watching you sit on your ass has been,” he made to protest but she waved it away, standing up with a groan and picking up her plates, “I’m heading home for the night. Try not to electrocute yourself dumbass.”

“Yeah, yeah, goodnight to you too Lucia.” He walked her to her door, promising he’d come over for dinner next time he got a chance before heading back to his apartment. The android still hadn’t moved. He sighed, a mixture of frustration and what he refused to admit was worry, before heading over to fix the android up before it woke up properly. He detached the computer cord from its neck port, sitting it up on the couch and reattaching the android’s working arm. It was just as he clicked the arm into place that he saw that the android’s eyes were open. Open and focused on him.

Before he even had a chance to react the android’s legs came up and kicked him in the chest, throwing him back over the coffee table and leaving him flat on his back, fighting for the air that was just forced out of his lungs. Almost too fast for him to process the android leapt over the coffee table after him, grabbing him by the neck and crushing him back against the wall, silver-blue eyes so bright with rage they looked like they were glowing.

_Well fuck._


	2. "There's a first time for everything."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin has to contend with a very cross and very...unique android; how is he the only one who manages to get into these kinds of situations?
> 
> (Warning for mildly dubious consent in this chapter, though nothing too bad)

“Fuck!” Gavin scrambled for purchase against the wall, trying to relieve the pressure on his throat. The android growled (actually _growled_ what the everloving _fuck_ -) and merely pressed closer, lifting Gavin up off the ground by its hold on his neck, making it even harder to breath and his movements more desperate. But no matter how hard he kicked or how desperately he scratched at its arm it didn’t seem to even notice, eyes fixed intently on his face and grip unyielding. 

_Fuck, am I seriously about to die for being a good samaritan?_ He thought wildly to himself, because seriously what kind of bullshit was this? Suddenly he felt the familiar sizzle of rage in his blood, burning out the fear keeping him from being able to think clearly. He certainly wasn’t strong enough to fight his way out of this, that was clear, and because of their position Gavin was too far from the android’s torso to be able to hit any of its weak points (if it even had any; he’d noted its unique build pretty much immediately and the theory of it being a runaway military model kept seeming more and more likely; meant their position was likely completely intentional on the android’s part to keep him helpless). All that he could really do was try to talk it down, although with its grip on his throat he wouldn’t be able to get out much. Still had to try though.

“Are you seriously going to kill the guy who just fucking saved your ass?” He managed to sputter out. It tilted its head slightly, considering him. “If I was going to hurt you I would’ve fucking done it when you couldn’t fight back dumbass.” He tried to continue, but couldn’t choke out anything further, lungs screaming for air and throat burning with the strain. Just as black started to edge into his vision the android’s grip loosened ever so slightly, slowly lowering him to the floor until he could breathe again. He gasped for air, coughing viciously when the breath stuttered in his abused throat. Once he’d caught his breath again he shifted his gaze to the android’s eyes, studying him with an intensity that sent shivers up and down his spine, though for what reason he couldn’t say. They stayed there, trapped in a charged moment of suspended animation, each waiting to see what the other would do. The android was the one to eventually break the stalemate, leaning in close to his neck in a way that had Gavin flinching back, freezing up when the android growled lowly in warning.

_Alright, doesn’t like sudden movements. Duly noted._ Gavin thought to himself. He stayed still as the android started scanning him. At least, that’s what he _thought_ it was doing. He couldn’t really see much from his current position. Despite the oddness of the situation, he still couldn’t hold back when it went to a whole new level of weird. 

“Are you fucking _sniffing me_?” He exclaimed in the quietest way his shock-addled brain could manage, not wanting to restart program MurderWhoTheFuckEver.exe. It didn’t bother with responding to his question, just continuing to sniff his throat because that was definitely a completely normal thing to do. “OKAY nope, nope, none of that please.” He immediately reached up to shove the android’s head away from his neck, relieved when it went willingly. Less relieved when it immediately vaulted over his couch and made for the kitchen window. The one with a fire escape.

“Wait!” He shouted. He couldn’t just let the android out on the street when its stress level was so high and it was acting so...animalistic. It could run into anybody, attack anybody, get itself hurt- it was practically feral, there was no telling what could happen if it came across another person in the state it was in. He had to at least try to calm it down if his conscience was going to let him get any sleep tonight. The android paused at his command, immediately lowering into a defensive crouch and baring its teeth at him from the middle of his kitchen floor. 

_Great, no quick movements and no shouting- my favorite go-to’s when dealing with stress._ He snarked to himself. Beating his sarcastic thoughts to the back of his mind, he softened his features to the best of his ability and lowered himself into a crouch as well, trying to keep on the same level as the android, utilizing years of working with victims and traumatized witnesses. Cautiously he stepped forward, still keeping low to the ground and hands in plain view for the android to see. 

“Just listen to me alright? The connection clamps in your shoulder are damaged; if you let me close I can see if I’ll be able to fix it and reattach your arm. Okay?” The android didn’t answer verbally, though it did seem to relax its stance a little and stopped baring its teeth at him, which Gavin took as permission to get closer. The android’s shoulder was _really_ messed up. He’d been able to stop the thirium leaks and random sparking, but the connection clamps were completely unusable as they were, twisted and bent back in on themselves in a way that made Gavin’s shoulder twitch in sympathy.

“The connection clamps are stuck closed.” He murmured to himself, unknowingly slipping into the ‘focused mode’ Tina liked to tease him about constantly. “Probably need some pliers to bend them back into posi-” Gavin cut himself off when the android, without a word, reached up with its working hand and straightened out the connection clamps, not even bothering to look before doing so. Gavin blinked before sighing and rubbing his hand over his face because _really, why the hell not? It can growl, it can almost move faster than a human can process, why the hell shouldn’t it be able to bend titanium like play-doh?_

What the hell had he gotten himself into now?

Shaking off his surprise, he carefully crept forward, picking up the android’s damaged arm from where it had been knocked to the ground in their tussle. Once he was close enough, he cautiously reached up to attach the arm, telegraphing his movements and going as slowly as he could force himself to. Soon he was clicking the arm back into place, pushing down the instinct to immediately back the fuck off when the android started recalibrating it, twisting the shoulder in a few circles and bending its elbow, wrist, and fingers. After a moment it seemed satisfied with the repair, returning its full attention to Gavin and making him lean back just the slightest bit. Because holy _fuck_ was this thing intimidating. And it didn’t help when it just kept getting closer to him, causing him to drop to his elbows when it was practically perched on top of him. He sighed, mostly resigned, when the android started sniffing him again.

This he would’ve been mostly fine with. Weirded out by? Sure. Going up on the list of top ten most surreal things to happen to him? Definitely. It was what came next that had his brain short-circuiting and screaming _ABORT! FUCKING ABORT MISSION!_ The android finished nosing at the hollow of his throat and then, without a hint of warning, licked a stripe up the side of his neck. Taken by surprise, Gavin’s elbows slipped out from under him. He would’ve banged his skull on the linoleum floor beneath them for sure, probably pretty hard too, if it wasn’t for the android’s hand breaking his fall. 

“Whoa whoa whoa, what the _fuck?_ ” He hissed out in surprise, trying to crabwalk back so that he could get some fucking space from the lick-happy android in his apartment, but it didn’t allow him to get far. In a move he couldn’t quite understand and sure as hell wouldn’t be able to repeat, it swept one of its legs beneath his feet while simultaneously pressing down on his chest, knocking him off balance and forcing him to the floor, the android’s other hand still cradling the back of his head. His hands instinctively reached up to grab at the android’s shoulders in a futile attempt to regain his equilibrium, yelping when it unexpectedly used its hold on his hair to wrench his head to the side, baring his neck to it. Before he could utter any of the thousands of curses running on repeat at full volume in his mind, it leant down to continue its apparent exploration of him, alternating between burying its nose into the crook of his neck and swiping its tongue over the line of his jaw, running its nose up the tendon in his neck and wetly tracing the edge of his adam’s apple. He was so shocked he couldn’t breathe for a minute, completely flabbergasted that this was actually happening, and to him of all people.

_Well of course it's happening to me,_ some small part of him griped, _who else has this kind of shitty luck?_ As he tried to figure out what exactly to do in this situation without either a) pissing the android off or b) scaring it out into the night where loads of defenseless and unaware citizens were likely wandering around, he completely missed when it moved from his neck up towards his ear. He froze completely, mind going blank with panic and something else he didn’t want to identify, when he felt the android nose at the sensitive spot just beneath his ear, the one all his previous good hook-ups knew to exploit the hell out of once they found it, not even daring to breathe when the android paused as well. 

After a tense moment, the android tentatively pressed its tongue against the spot. Gavin let out a shaky breath as goosebumps raced up and down his spine at the sensation. It paused again, head tilting slightly in what Gavin could only assume was confusion, and he decided to take the opportunity to stop whatever the fuck was going on. He tightened his grip on the android’s shoulders, preparing to push it away, when it did something his poor gay heart was in no way prepared for. The android leaned closer, opened its mouth, and started sucking at the spot. _Hard._ He sucked in a sharp gasp, unintentionally pulling the android closer rather than pushing it away, fighting down a moan at the unexpected feeling. He could feel the blood rushing to his face when the android moved the arm it had against his chest and wrapped it around him, pressing them closer together and gently tilting his head a little farther to the side. Couldn’t help the low groan that escaped when the android started _biting_ instead of just tasting, shuddering at the deep hum that vibrated through the android’s body in response. His breath started coming a little quicker, entire body heating up as the android sucked what was sure to end up being a dark bruise on his skin. 

He finally came to his senses when he felt the brush of the android’s hand against his lower back. _Beneath_ his shirt _._ And when the fuck did that even happen?! Abruptly remembering where he was and who he was and what he should definitely _not_ be doing, Gavin wedged a hand between his skin and the android’s jaw, forcing it to move back if it wanted to avoid hurting him. In its brief moment of surprised hesitation he managed to get out of its hold, scrambling back when it tried to grab for him again. The android started standing up (to get all up in his face again most likely) so when his back hit the wall he flung up his hand in the universal sign for ‘hold the fuck on’ and shouted: 

“Stop!” It seemed to do the trick, the android pausing midstep, raised foot hovering a few inches above the ground. Breathing heavily, trying to get his pounding heartbeat under control, Gavin watched as the android slowly lowered its foot back to rest beside the other, bending its knees until it was in a crouch, a mirror of their previous position. Gavin couldn’t help but huff out a shaky laugh at the irony of it; an android mimicking his own actions in order to calm him down? What the fuck was happening to his life? Needing a minute to collect himself, he tilted his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, scrubbing both hands over his face vigorously to will away the blush still lingering in his cheeks. He sat there for a minute, hand covering his face as he tried to calm down. Just as his heartbeat started to settle, a suspicious creak of the loose floorboard his landlord kept ‘forgetting’ to fix jolted him from his thoughts. 

Whipping his hand away from his face, he gaped open-mouthed at the significantly closer android, who froze as soon as he looked at it. It tilted its head at him innocently, as if it hadn’t been edging closer to him when he wasn’t paying attention. He might almost believe it wasn’t planning to do the same thing it had been doing previously, if its eyes didn’t keep flicking towards the hickey he could feel tingling on his skin. 

“No.” He said, balancing on the balls of his feet just in case he needed to make a mad dash for the door. “We’re not doing that again. We don’t know each other at all- you’re barely cognizant for fuck’s sake! You can’t consent properly and- and I don’t even know how- how doing stuff like _that_ with an android would even work-” He stopped talking abruptly when he realized the android didn’t even seem to be listening to him, gaze intent on the spot it’d been ravishing a few moments prior. Face turning a bright shade of red, he reached up and snapped his fingers in front of the android to regain its attention.

“For fuck’s sake tin can, focus! You can’t just do that to someone you’ve just met, it’s really fucking inappropriate, understand?” It tilted its head at him again, seemingly confused. “Look, I get you’re curious, but you can’t just touch wherever you want to alright?” It just kept looking at him with what Gavin could only read as disappointment, or maybe frustration, in the lines of its face, LED going from circling yellow to the stark crimson red that made nervous sweat break out on Gavin’s neck. Swallowing, Gavin slowly brought his hand forward, reaching towards the android’s hand. “Here, how about just this for now? Is that alright?” It eyed him, LED circling red, red, red before going back to yellow. It came a bit closer, lifting its own hand up until their fingers were gently touching. It sent a shiver through Gavin when the android stroked its fingertips down the sides of his fingers, tracing the whorls of his fingerprints, running them down the length of his palm. Its fingers eventually stopped on the pulse point in his wrist, resting there for several moments before it looked back up to meet his gaze, a small smile lifting its features, traces of blue finally interrupting the steady yellow of the LED. His breath felt locked in his throat at the sight. He started to give a tentative smile in return, heartbeat fluttering at the feeling of those fingers lightly tracing the veins in his wrist, before a sudden bang from the alleyway outside startled them both. Before Gavin could do or say anything the android was wrenching away from him, fleeing back to the fire escape. Within moments it was gone, vanished as if it had never been there in the first place.

Gavin slumped back against the wall behind him, heart racing faster than it had the entire night.

“Fuck.” He whispered to himself, wrist warm and tingling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, this got way out of hand when writing it. This scene was only supposed to be the first part of this chapter, but alas, the story has already taken on a life of its own. Can't believe a story of mine would go deviant so quickly.  
> But don't you worry, this is certainly not the last Gavin will be seeing of this particular android ;) (though he might not realize it for a while...)  
> Anyways, please let me know what you think in the comments! I'm looking forward to hearing from you.


	3. "Just remember that sometimes, the way you think about a person isn't the way they actually are"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin is having trouble moving on after finding and losing the feral android in one night, but luckily he has some friends, new and old, to help. Unluckily, the FBI has started poking around the precinct, and one agent in particular seems rather odd, even for an android.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I had major writer's block with it; I'm still not entirely happy with how it turned out and I might come back to edit it later on, but I had to get it out so that I could actually move on with the story lol. Please let me know what you think down in the comments. I can't tell you all how happy it makes me to read your thoughts and feelings on the story as it progresses. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy! :)
> 
> (Chapter title: quote by John Green)

Gavin glared at the screen in front of him, bleary eyes barely able to focus on the words of the report he was trying to type. After spending nearly the entire night before searching for the android (pointlessly, as he hadn’t found so much as a suspicious scuff on the ground to hint at where the android might’ve gone), he was only functioning through a mixture of caffeine and spite.

“Jesus Gavin, what the hell happened to you?”

“Can it, Tina.” He grumbled, fingers fumbling for the cup of coffee perched on the desk beside him, scowling when he realized it was empty.

“You know, when I said you needed to get laid I didn’t mean you should blow your paycheck on one of those kinky clubs downtown.” He half-heartedly glared at her, avoiding the temptation to hike his collar up higher to hide the dark purple bruises circling his throat, knowing it would only heighten Tina’s badly-hidden concern.

“I’m fine Tina, lay off.” She peered at him, brow furrowed in worry. He sighed and slumped down in his seat a little. “Seriously, I’m alright. I’ll explain at lunch.”

“You promise?”

“Scout’s honor.” He lazily lifted his right hand, grinning when she rolled her eyes fondly at him.

“Right, like you’ve ever been a boy scout.”

“You don’t know my life.” She snorted at the blatant lie before fixing him with a playfully stern expression.

“Whatever, but we’re going to that greek place up the street; I’ve been craving falafel and if I don’t get some soon, I’m going to fucking kill someone.”

“Sir yes sir.” He gave her a sharp salute, laughing when she whacked him on the shoulder.

“Whatever asshole,” she laughed, “see you at lunch.”

“Yeah yeah, get to work Chen.” She gleefully flipped him the bird before making her way out of the precinct to join her partner on patrol. Shaking his head amusedly at her antics, he turned back towards his terminal before remembering his troubling lack of coffee. Eyeing his mug sadly, he soon came to the conclusion that in order to have more he’d have to actually get up and _get_ more. Groaning deep in his throat at this injustice, he nonetheless levered himself out of his chair and dutifully stumbled his way to the breakroom.

Good news: someone had just brewed a fresh pot.

Bad news: that someone was none other then Hank fucking Anderson.

“Wow Anderson, brewing your own coffee? Thought that’s what you had robo-boy for?”

“Fuck off Reed, it’s too early in the morning for your goddamn bullshit.” Hank grumbled blearily over his steaming mug, looking like he could barely force his eyes open. If Gavin wasn’t so fucking tired himself he’d have made a dig about 10 in the morning only being too early for alcoholic assholes, but as it was he stayed quiet and poured himself a cup. He took a sip and hummed appreciatively; the man might have a laundry list of flaws, but damn if he didn’t know how to brew a good pot of coffee. Another bout of silence passed before Gavin’s curiosity finally won out.

“So where did the little goody-two-shoes fuck off to anyway? Finally get tired of dealing with your bullshit?”

“For fuck’s sake Reed, don’t you have a case to work on instead of annoying the hell out of me?”

“What, like you don’t have a pile of cases forming Everest on your desk? Thought wonder-boy prototype would’ve worked through that mess by now.” Gavin shot back. Rolling his eyes, Hank took a long sip from his coffee. 

“He’s helping Markus with something; won’t be back to work for another few days.”

“Well,” Gavin said as he started heading back to his desk, “thank God for small miracles.” Avoiding the sugar packet Hank tossed at his head, Gavin plopped back into his chair, mood significantly lighter after taking the piss out of Hank and getting more coffee. He’d barely managed to settle before the relative peace of the precinct was shattered by the struggling and clearly drunk man a few officers dragged in, presumably towards the cells to sleep the liquor off. Sighing, Gavin rubbed at the building tension in his temples. Clearly, it was just going to be one of those mornings.

“Alright spill.” Tina said, scarcely waiting for Gavin to get his turkey wrap before dragging him back towards his car, already munching happily on her falafel burger.

“It’s not what it looks like okay?”

“So that’s _not_ a hickey below your ear then?” He scowled, taking an aggressive bite from his wrap.

“Wait, Gavin you weren’t like...attacked were you? Because you know you can tell me-”

“No no no- well I mean, kind of-”

“What do you mean kind of?!”

“Well, I wasn’t _attacked_ attacked, I think I just startled him is all.”

“Him? Him who?” Gavin sighed, feeling the beginnings of a migraine coming on.

“Just get in the car and I’ll explain everything.” She did as she was told, listening intently and chewing her falafel as he detailed the bizarre events of the night before, letting out a low whistle once he finished and laughing when he merely groaned and shoved his head in his hands.

“Sounds like quite the night.”

“Oh yeah, it was real fun, especially when I nearly got strangled to death.” Gavin snarked.

“Well, we always knew you were a kinky bastard.”

“You got me there.” He sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose to stave off the migraine thrumming in his skull.

“So you couldn’t find the android at all?”

“Nope.”

“And there was no mention of any mysterious feral android sightings being reported? At all?”

“Not a one.” He sighed out, frowning out the windshield. She paused for a moment before gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Listen Gavin, as you and I both know, you’re the biggest, gooiest softie on the planet when you’re not being an asshole.” He turned a glare on her, but as always, she merely ignored it. “I know you get way too invested in these things for your own good, but you did all you could for him last night, more than most people would bother to. I know you’re worried, but from what you told me, I’m sure Mr. Terminator 2.0 will be alright. He probably just went to Jericho right? I’m sure Markus and them will take care of him.” He sighed again and nodded, already starting to feel better about the whole thing. Thank God for Tina Chen.

“Yeah I know, you’re probably right.”

“Probably?” She said with a snort, prompting a chuckle out of him.

“Alright alright, you’re definitely 100% correct, as you always are and always will be.”

“Thank you.” She said with a small pat to his shoulder, giving him a smile before turning her attention back onto her falafel burger. He waited for her to take a big bite before he continued:

“Like that time with that waitress at the Wafflehouse.” She could barely choke out obscenities at him through the coughing fit that ensued, but even the ones that were somewhat understandable were drowned out by his loud cackling laughter.

“Reed! Get in here!” Fowler’s voice echoed throughout the precinct, followed shortly by the closing of the captain’s office door. Groaning to himself and fighting down the yawn that wanted to escape, Gavin lurched to his feet and sleepily made his way towards the captain’s office. Even several days after the ‘Terminator 2.0 Incident’, (as Tina insisted on calling it) Gavin still had no word on any abnormal androids being spotted or attacking anyone. Since the one time he’d tried to ask Connor if Jericho had heard anything about feral androids attacking humans (unwisely in the precinct, where lots of snitches who hated his guts just so happened to be) had gotten him an official reprimand from Fowler about there being ‘no room for android prejudice in the workplace’ and ‘not to base investigations on baseless rumors’ as well as two extra weeks in android sensitivity training, he’d given up pretty quickly on trying to use Connor or Jericho as a resource. 

It had been almost a week since he’d seen the android, almost as long since he’d gotten a proper night’s sleep, and if it wasn’t for the still fading bruises around his neck he’d almost think he’d dreamt the whole thing. But they were there, so he hadn’t, so he still couldn’t fall asleep at night from the worries sunk deep into his mind on where the android was, who it was with, if it itself was safe, if it was safe for others-

Damn, maybe Tina was right about him getting ‘too invested’ in these things.

“Listen Reed, I don’t have time for whatever bullshit you’re gonna start on this, so keep it to yourself. Hank’s out sick but Connor’s moving in on Bertechelli today and is gonna need backup. I’m sending you with him.”

“But Fowler-”

“No Reed, you’re going with him. It’s just for today and you’re literally the only officer who isn’t either working a case already or keeping an eye on that protest downtown. We have barely enough people as it is, so shut up and do your fucking job.” Swallowing down the bitter words lodged in his throat, he managed a jerky nod.

“Good.” Fowler leveled him with a heavy look. “Listen Reed, the world’s changing out there. You’re a damn good detective, one of my best, but you’ve gotta get over this thing you have with androids or it’s not gonna end well for you. You understand me?”

“Yes sir.” He said, the words falling like bits of broken glass. Fowler shook his head and sighed, shooing him away.

“I told Connor you’re working as his backup today, he should be waiting for you in the precinct.” Without another word Gavin turned and strode from the captain’s office.

After a few terse words exchanged in the precinct, filling Gavin in on the specifics of Bertechelli and the arrest, Connor and Gavin didn’t speak. It was an awkward-as-hell car ride, but everytime Connor looked like he was going to try and start a conversation Gavin would turn up the volume on the radio, or jerk the wheel a little too harshly on a turn and force Connor to concentrate on not letting gravity squish him against the door, or would just turn a shoot the android a glare if all else failed. This strategy proved effective, so by the time they rolled up to the building listed as Bertechelli’s residence there hadn’t been a single remark on the weather, bit of gossip from the office, or ( _God forbid_ ) the ever-dreaded ‘how are you doing?’ question. It all would’ve been fine and dandy, if it hadn’t been for Bertechelli himself. 

Hank and Connor had been building a case against him for weeks, for virtually every low to mid to high-level crime an aspiring mafia boss could hope to achieve. Money laundering, drug possession and distribution, red ice manufacturing, prostitution, human and android trafficking- you name it, the guy had at least a pinkie in that pie. In addition to all that, the guy had a mean streak when it came to androids. Some of the stuff he said (and most likely did, though no one had been able to find enough evidence to link him to the murders and mutilations of at least three androids) made even pre-revolution Gavin look like a veritable android-fanatic. Rumor had it the Anti-Android League was even getting involved with him, though Hank and Connor hadn’t been able to locate any concrete connections between them. Now, all that only mattered when it came to them arresting Bertechelli because of how it affected the types of people he hired to guard his building. And thus, the types of people Gavin and Connor had to deal with upon arriving.

“Sorry, no plastics allowed.” The man said, gesturing to the ‘no androids’ sign Gavin had ignored. He was tall and lanky with a shaved head and the fucking AAL logo tattooed on his neck, so Gavin could already tell he wasn’t exactly hired for his smarts. The other dude guarding the entrance merely kept glaring at Connor as if he was the cause of all his life’s problems.

“Police business sir, stand aside.” See everyone? Gavin could play nice.

“Not until robo-twink over here fucks off.” Connor bristled in the corner of his eye, but Gavin beat him to the punch.

“That ‘robo-twink’ is a DPD detective, and you’ll keep your mouth shut if you know what’s good for you. Now step aside.”

“Oh, so the little android fucks are playing cop now? Ah, fucking splendid!” The douchebag started clapping sarcastically, a mean sneer on his face. Abruptly reaching the end of his patience, Gavin snarled, prepared to leap forward and knock the stupid weasely expression right off the asshole’s face, when Connor’s arm snapping across his chest stopped him. Glancing confusedly at the android, Connor ignored him and only smiled politely at the two men. 

“I’m sorry gentlemen, but this is police business. If you refuse to let us pass you can be arrested and indicted for interfering with a police investigation, aiding and abetting a known criminal, and refusing service to a person based on their species. As both of you are still on parole from your latest stints in prison- your third, isn’t that correct Mr. Donovan?- your sentences would be a minimum of five years each. Why not make this easier for everyone and let us through, hm?” The two men sneered at him for a moment before glancing at each other, glancing at Gavin (who still probably looked like he’d love to beat the shit out of them, because he definitely did) and then at Connor, who despite the friendly smile could definitely have them both knocked out before they so much as got a scratch on him. 

Despite all evidence to the contrary, the two men weren’t entirely morons, so they made the smart decision to let the detectives through, though not without some grumbling and ill-disguised threats.

“God these fucking assholes, always pulling dumbass shit like this.” Gavin grumbled to himself, fixing his jacket from where one of the men had shoulder-clipped him on his way inside. 

“Thank you for standing up for me detective; it was somewhat out of character, but was ultimately pleasantly surprising.”

“Yeah well, with dumb shits like that everywhere in the city, us at the DPD gotta watch out for our own.” He grumbled, not really paying attention to the conversation as he double checked the floor number they were heading to. When Connor didn’t immediately reply, Gavin made the mistake of glancing back at him. Connor’s beaming smile was so wide Gavin might worry it would start hurting if he wasn’t busy regretting ever opening his mouth.

“Okay bambi, don’t let it go to your fucking head, I still don’t fucking like you capiche? And fucking turn _that_ ,” he gestured to Connor’s joyful expression, “down before you fucking blind someone.”

“Of course detective,” Connor replied, smile not dimming in the slightest, “I understand.” Gavin sighed and shook his head, hiding his own small quirk of a smile by turning back around to lead the charge forward. 

“Whatever tin can. Let’s go.” In the end, after a brief tussle with some of the inside security guards and an attempted runaway, Bertechelli was successfully arrested, Connor filled out most of the paperwork, and Hank was confused, angry, and suspicious when he returned to work the next day only to find Connor chatting it up with a somewhat resigned looking Gavin Reed.

Weeks passed. Connor continued to be his annoyingly ingratiating and chipper self to Gavin, and Gavin was no longer being antagonistic in return, which counted as downright friendly in his eyes. Hank and he started to snipe at each other in a more lukewarm setting than the piping hot insults of before, and Tina was thrilled when she discovered Connor’s shared love of cooking. Things settled, more laws were put in place to establish android rights, talk of war and ‘one true race’ finally started to die down, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as things at last seemed to return to a peaceful semblance of normal. 

_Huh, I guess this ain’t too bad._ Gavin thought to himself. It was during their lunch break and he was watching Tina, Connor, Hank, and Chris (who somehow always seemed to get roped into these things) argue over the merits of soap operas (or rather, which soap opera was, strictly speaking, the best), making sure to pitch in every once in a while, if only to needle the others for their taste in television. Clearly, _Lonely Hearts of Seattle_ was by far the best, no matter what the others said. Gavin thought that he could get used to this kind of life, being at least semi-cordial with his coworkers and having actual plans for after work with more people than just Tina, great as she was. So naturally, as soon as he decided to relax and make himself comfortable, life had to throw a curveball at him. The bitch.

“Huh, I wonder what’s going on up there.” Gavin murmured to himself, eyes fixed on Fowler’s office. The windows were tinted so he couldn’t see what was happening inside, meaning Fowler was probably in a meeting, but it had been like that since Gavin arrived for his shift over half an hour ago.

“Apparently Fowler is meeting with a few members of the FBI with regards to a few of our previous cases.” Gavin nearly dropped his cup of coffee.

“For fuck’s sake Connor, don’t fucking sneak up on me like that!” He growled, turning in his seat to glare at the android behind him. Connor gave him an apologetic little smile.

“Sorry detective, it was not intentional.”

“Yeah yeah.” He grumbled, moving a few of the files on his desk around to clear off a space. Connor took the silent invitation and hopped up onto the table as Gavin leaned back in his chair, taking a sip of his coffee with an appreciative groan.

“So FBI is poking around?”

“Evidently so; I don’t know what about, as I only heard from a few members of the night shift as they were leaving the station.”

“At least tell me it’s not fucking Perkins.”

“I’m afraid it is Detective Reed.” Cursing under his breath, Gavin turned to Hank, who had approached with a suspicious look when he saw his precious robo-son shooting the shit with the resident asshole, despite the fact it had become somewhat regular occurrence over the past month. 

“Hank, please tell me you’re ready to dole out another right hook.” Never let it be said Hank wasn’t a good investigator. He took one look at the obscured window before quickly putting two and two together.

“Fucking Perkins.” He groaned under his breath, eyeing the door out of the station as if he could make it two steps before Connor would politely drag him back to his desk to complete the day's work.

“According to Officer Andrews, Agent Perkins and an unfamiliar android arrived roughly ten minutes before the first members of day shift began arriving and have been in Fowler’s office ever since.”

“An android?” Gavin’s eyebrows shot up at that. “An android FBI agent?”

“As far as Andrews could deduce, yes. She didn’t get the chance to hear much or introduce herself before she left.” 

“Yeah no shit. No one wants to have to deal with Perkins unless they have to.” Hank grumbled, Gavin raising his cup in salute.

“Ah fuck me, Perkins isn’t here is he?” Tina piped up as she moved to join them, normally upbeat expression souring into a grimace. “I was hoping we were getting another visit from Markus and co.”

“Try to keep your lady boner in your pants.” Gavin said, attention still mostly fixed on the fogged up glass. _Android FBI agent, huh?_

“It’s not my fault North’s so hot. I mean, did you _see_ how she ripped Pervy Peterson a new one when he tried to hit on her?”

“Sorta hard to miss Tina.” Gavin laughed, the memory of Peterson’s sweaty and panicked face a fond one.

“Connor, please tell me your buddies will be stopping by again. I gotta get a chance to ask North out.”

“Nothing has been brought to my attention, but I promise if they have plans to visit the station in the future you’ll be the first to know.” Connor grinned.

“I knew I kept you around for a reason.” Tina teased, reaching up to ruffle Connor’s hair. He playfully swatted her hand away, but before the banter could continue the glass in Fowler’s office abruptly became clear again and Gavin nearly choked on the coffee he’d unwisely chosen to sip at that exact moment.

“Holy mother of shit! Connor, I thought you said the other RK800s left Detroit?” Hank exclaimed.

“They did.” Connor said, looking as shocked as the rest of them. “That’s an RK900- his model line was meant to replace mine after deviancy was wiped out, but Cyberlife didn’t make more than one functioning model before production was shut down. I was not aware he had joined the FBI.” Frowning, Hank moved to clasp his hand on Connor’s shoulder.

“Well, whatever they’re here for doesn’t got anything to do with us. Let’s get to work Connor.” Looking a little shaken, Connor followed Hank’s lead back to their desks, LED spinning an uncertain yellow. Exchanging frowns, Gavin and Tina looked back at the android standing (feet shoulder-length apart, hands clasped behind the back; perfect parade rest) in Fowler’s office. Gavin couldn’t help but start noting all the little differences between the two now that he knew there would be some. His hair seemed a shade or two darker than Connor’s, his features sharper and more angled, as if a Cyberlife technician had taken a ruler to perfectly mark the planes of his face, the length of his nose, the edge of his jaw. Like Connor, he had also switched out his android uniform for more personal clothing, but while Connor tended to stick with casual suits and colorful ties (and even occasionally t-shirts), RK900 was dressed in nearly all black: form-fitting black pants, a black turtleneck, black military boots, a long black coat with an upturned collar- hell he even had black _gloves_. On anyone else it might look dumb, but on RK900 it just looked intimidating (and yes, Gavin could admit to himself, attractive as hell). He couldn’t say for certain at this difference, but Gavin thought the RK900 was also a bit taller than Connor, maybe by a few inches. Even if they were the same height though, something about the RK900 just seemed bigger than his predecessor, his very presence filling up the room in a way Connor’s agreeable demeanor never quite could. While lost in his observations Gavin almost missed when the pair left Fowler’s office. They were halfway across the precinct when RK900 glanced over at Connor and, with a small smirk and a few quick words to Perkins, changed his trajectory to stop by Connor’s desk. 

Gavin couldn’t quite hear what was being said, but judging by Connor’s increasingly uncomfortable expression and Hank’s ferocious scowl, it couldn’t have been good. Never let it be said that Gavin Reed doesn’t protect his own. Plopping his coffee onto his desk, he swung his legs onto the ground and quickly marched over to the trio, catching the tail end of their conversation as he did so.

“-but of course I shouldn’t expect so much from an outdated model such as yourself.”

“Listen hear you little-”

“I’d be careful if I were you lieutenant. I’m an FBI agent who records everything I see, hear, and sense simply by existing. We wouldn’t want another disciplinary strike on your already considerable record, now would we?” Before Hank or Connor could respond, Gavin was there to be his usual amazingly obnoxious self. 

“Hey tin can, where’s that stuff from evidence I told you to grab?” He’d been intending to cause a distraction, give Connor an excuse to escape the other android’s attention, maybe get in a jibe or two until he annoyed the RK900 into leaving, but the second the agent turned to look at Gavin all thoughts of interference fled his mind. The android seemed to freeze as soon as he saw him, LED briefly turning a startling red before quickly returning to yellow, but this isn’t what made Gavin pause. What made him stop like a deer in the headlights was the sudden rush of emotions that crossed the android’s face, so subtle Gavin might not have noticed if he wasn’t paying attention, moving so quickly he couldn’t discern most of them. The only one he could identify was anger. A deep and loathing anger that made Gavin’s heart beat faster in his chest and every instinct in his body start urging him to run and hide or pull out the handgun hanging heavy on his hip. Because whereas Connor was soft, warm, and welcoming in appearance, this android was anything but. 

Connor was made to integrate, to sink back amongst the backdrop of humanity and remind them that androids were perfectly safe, harmless except to those faulty androids that might threaten them, soothe them of their fears until they no longer needed the reassurance. This one, the RK900, was built to intimidate, infiltrate, slink through shadows until it was ready to strike. This wasn’t the goofy neighborhood detective sent by Cyberlife to assist the everyday citizen. This was the assassin that clawed its way out of the depths of humanity’s nightmare, with eyes like smoke and ice, to prowl the streets of daylight. And as of that moment, the android was staring at Gavin like he wanted to kill him.

Not more than three seconds could have passed before the anger suddenly disappeared behind a blank expression, a calm facade sculpted prettily over his features that sent unpleasant shivers down Gavin’s side. A small, icily-cold smile stretched the android’s mouth into an approximation of pleasantness.

“Ah, Detective Gavin Reed. A pleasure to meet you.” He said, stretching out his hand for a handshake, chilling smile growing into a downright frightening grin when Gavin didn’t accept it, a grin that had Gavin’s stomach lurching because _holy shit_ were those actual fucking _fangs-_?! Before he could so much as move a step back from the thoroughly unsettling introduction, the android’s hand darted forward to grab his in a facsimile of a friendly handshake, unforgiving grip not allowing him to snatch it back. “I’m sure working with you and your department will be an,” his grip tightened until it made Gavin wince a little and fight down a pained gasp, “enlightening experience.” The android abruptly released him and turned back towards Hank and Connor, who were apparently just as shocked at the shift in demeanor as Gavin was. “Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse me.” And then he left to join Perkins, who was standing impatiently over by the entrance of the precinct. A moment later and they were gone without so much as a backwards glance.

All Gavin could do was fall back to lean against Connor’s desk, gape at where RK900 had disappeared, and hiss: 

“What the actual _fuck_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, I know you're all confused now, but all shall make sense in time. Let's just say for right now that there are a number of...small (HUGE) misunderstandings and a lot of miscommunications are about to ensue >:)
> 
> But don't worry ya'll, you shouldn't have to wait as long for the next chapter as you did for this one. (Hopefully anyway lol)
> 
> See you soon!


	4. "And so, the adventure begins."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin has a very rocky start with his new partner.

Weird as it was, Gavin tried to push the whole... _encounter_ with RK900 from his mind. He had enough shit to deal with as it was, and chances were he’d never even see the plastic prick again, so why dwell on it? This was an excellent decision on his part- a departure from his usual method of keeping a hold on his simmering anger and letting it harden under the pressure of his stress until it became a nugget of pure spite, ready to be honed into a long standing grudge- and it would’ve likely would've panned out wonderfully, if it wasn’t for what happened a few days later.

The first sign his unusually good morning was about to crash and burn was when he passed Perkins after checking in with security. Just seeing the bastard was enough to dampen Gavin’s rare high spirits, but the particularly smug sneer the asshole aimed his way was enough to put him on edge and shove him back to the bitter grouch the precinct was more used to. Grumbling to himself, he stomped across the bullpen and sat down, nearly slamming his cardboard coffee cup onto his desk as he roughly booted up his computer. Fucking Perkins.

_ At least Connor’s scary twin on steroids wasn’t with him _ . Gavin naively thought to himself. The second sign his day was taking a turn for the worse was when Fowler popped his head out of his office and leveled a look at Gavin, gesturing with a nod that Gavin correctly interpreted as  _ get your ass in here now _ before disappearing back into the room. Sighing, Gavin stood up and made his way to Fowler’s office, trying fruitlessly to think of what he’d done to piss Fowler off this time. Unable to recall any particularly spiteful criminals or extra heated conversations with anyone at the precinct, he shrugged to himself and entered the office without a clue as to why Fowler wanted to talk to him.

“Yeah captain? What do you need?”

“Sit down Reed.” 

_ Oh boy, here we go.  _ Gavin thought to himself, warily sitting down in one of the chairs in front of Fowler’s desk.

“Alright Reed, I’m gonna level with you. This department is struggling. A lot of our cops have left Detroit since the revolution, thankfully none of my best, but enough to make life difficult for those who’ve stayed. And on top of that, android-related hate crimes have gone through the roof. We have too many criminals and too few cops to bring ‘em in, and we’ve been getting desperate.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I know you know.” Fowler sighed, scrubbing a tired hand over his face. “The reason I’m telling you is because the FBI has started a temporary program of loaning out their agents to a few of the more struggling departments in the country, particularly the ones in or near Detroit.”

Gavin started to get a sinking feeling in his gut. “And you’re telling me this because…?”

“Because if I’m gonna have an FBI agent poking around my department’s cases, I’m sure as hell not letting them do it alone. You’re one of my best detectives, you don’t have a partner, and I know you won’t take any shit from him just because he’s a fed.” Sighing, Gavin leaned back in his chair and drummed his fingers on his leg, wishing desperately for a cigarette. He didn’t like it, but he had to admit Fowler had a point. He didn’t like the idea of partners in general, partnering up with an FBI agent even less, but he knew he’d hate having an independent fed around doing God knows what even more.

“Alright Fowler fine. How long will I have to partner with him?”

“Right now we’re looking at two months, but that might change depending on the department’s need.”

“Fantastic.” He ignored the headache beginning to stir in his skull. “Who the hell am I partnering up with anyway?” Before Fowler got the chance to respond, they were interrupted by the office door opening. Gavin immediately leapt up from his seat defensively when RK900 walked in, looking almost the same as last time they met except for the dark grey blazer and matching slacks he now wore.

“Apologies for my tardiness captain. Agent Perkins and I had to discuss a few things before he left.”

“That’s alright-”

“Fowler, what the  _ fuck  _ is he doing here?”

“Reed,” Fowler sighed, looking as if he wanted very much to just send them both out so that he could take a nap on his desk, “this is Agent Nines.” 

“Yes, we briefly met the last time I was here. Detective Reed, it’s a pleasure to see you again.” RK900- no, _Nines_ said, looking like it was anything but. He held out his hand for a handshake, an action that immediately had Gavin crossing his arms and scowling at him. Rather than be annoyed by this reaction, Nines only seemed amused. His eyes briefly lit up in cold mirth as he drew his hand back before he turned his attention to the captain, hands now folded behind his back in what was apparently his default position. 

“I trust you have everything ready for my transfer?” Fowler barely got his mouth open to reply before Gavin was whirling back to him in disbelief. 

“He’s my new partner?! You must be shitting me!”

“No Reed, I’m not shitting you, no you’re not getting out of this, and if I hear one word about you trying anything I’ll have you on cold cases for the rest of the year. Understood?” So angry he couldn’t trust himself to speak, Gavin merely gave a short nod in reply, ignoring the smugness emanating from the android standing next to him. “Good. Now get out of my office and get back to work. Agent Nines will join you in just a minute.” Taking the out for what it was, he stormed back to his desk and immediately went to work, intending to catch up on some of the reports he’d fallen behind on and ignore the android for as long as he could, but he didn’t get too far before Tina popped up next to him.

“Hm, someone’s in a grumpy mood this morning.” She started, taking a seat on his desk and grinning cheekily at him.

“You don’t fucking know the half of it.” He grumbled bitterly, leaning back and draining the last of his coffee in an attempt to stave off his headache.

“It’s not even 8:30 yet Gav, what could’ve possibly happened to ruin your day already?” He pointed at Fowler’s office where Nines and Fowler were still talking.

“Oh he’s back? Did he try to crush your hand again or something?”

“He’s my new partner.” She whipped back around to stare at him, nearly dropping her own cup of coffee in the process.

“He’s what?!”

“Apparently the FBI is loaning some of their guys out to the police for a few months, and I’m getting partnered up with this one.” 

“Why you?” Tina laughed. “Fowler knows you hate partners. And the FBI. And, you know, androids in general.” She paused and tilted her head thoughtfully. “I mean, for the most part anyway.”

“Because Fowler doesn’t want a fed being able to poke around without someone to keep an eye on him, and since I’m the only detective around here without a partner I get the shit end of the stick.”

“Well, yeah I guess…” She frowned thoughtfully to herself. “I just thought they might’ve put him with Rodriguez in Narcotics instead. Homicide is rough, but Narcotics has even less manpower than we do, and the Red Ice problem is just getting worse.” 

“Oh yeah, I forgot Rodriguez’s partner was on maternity leave.” Now Gavin frowned. “That is kinda weird. Why wouldn’t Fowler put him in Narcotics?” 

“I dunno, maybe there’s more than one FBI agent joining up?”

“Maybe…” 

“Oh hey look it’s Connor. Maybe he’ll know.” Turning, Gavin saw Connor ushering a sleepy-eyed Hank through the door of the precinct. 

“Hey Connor!” Gavin called out. “You got a minute?” Connor perked up like the golden retriever he was clearly modeled after and walked over to join them, Hank following like a particularly grumpy shadow.

“Good morning Detective Reed, Officer Chen.”

“Aw Connor come on, it’s too early in the morning for that shit. Just call me Tina.” She said with a sunny grin.

“Of course Tina!” Connor beamed back. Gavin groaned deep in his throat.

“Great, thanks Tina. Now if I don’t let him call me Gavin it’ll be weird.”

“Your face is weird.” Hank grumbled blearily over the coffee he clutched like a lifeline.

“Wow Hank,” Gavin deadpanned, “that really bites. You sure do know how to hit a guy where it hurts.” Hank flipped him the bird, a gesture Gavin lazily returned before turning back to Connor. “So, you heard about the new FBI thing going down?” Connor tilted his head in confusion.

“‘FBI thing going down?’”

“So you haven’t heard then.” Gavin sighed, leaning back into his chair and wishing he could just go home and sleep for the next few months.

“Is it related to the return of Agent Nines?” Connor asked, looking minutely uncomfortable as he glanced at Fowler’s office, where Hank was now fixing a mighty glare.

“Yep. Apparently the FBI is sending some agents to help out with the workload for a few months.” Tina leaned closer to them with a mischievous grin. “And guess who’s getting to partner with RK900?” She tilted her head towards Gavin, who was now leaning forward and lightly banging his head on his desk. Hank barked out a laugh and slapped a hand on Gavin’s shoulder.

“Good luck with that Reed.”

“Yeah thanks asshole.”

“It might not be that bad Gavin. Perhaps our first meeting with him was a misunderstanding, or perhaps a fluke?” Gavin sat back up to shoot a withering glare at Connor. The android cringed a little and offered a sheepish smile. “At least it’ll only be for a few months?” He tried. Gavin sighed and stood up, tossing his empty cup into the trash can beside his desk.

“Whatever, I’m going to need a shit ton of coffee if I’m going to get through today. If you guys need me I’ll be in the break room.” 

“That’s alright Gavin, I was just about to make Hank a new cup. I can grab one for you as well if you like.”

“Seriously?” At Connor’s nod Gavin sank back into his chair with a relieved sigh, laying his head down on his folded arms. “Thanks.”

“Black with two sugars, correct?” At Gavin’s tired thumbs-up, Connor retreated to the breakroom, happily chatting with Tina and Hank along the way. Gavin pressed his head further against the cool surface of the desktop, trying to relieve the thrumming in his head before it went from headache to migraine. The momentary quiet didn’t last long.

“Sorry to disturb your rest detective, but we have a case.” Before Gavin could do so much as groan, Nines pulled the seat out from under him. Barely managing to keep from landing on the floor, Gavin yelped, steadied himself, then turned around to glare at the android.

“What the fuck you plastic prick?!” 

“Sorry detective,” he said with a tight grin, eyes twinkling with smug amusement, “but we have a case. We should get to the crime scene right away.” Without so much as a word of apology or second glance, Nines turned his back and exited the bullpen, clearly expecting Gavin to follow. Grumbling, Gavin dropped back down into his seat defiantly, fully intending to read through the casefile sent to his email before going  _ anywhere _ , until he realized his car keys were no longer on his desk. For a moment, Gavin could only gape in the direction the android had been, barely noticing that Connor, Hank, Tina, and now Chris had returned and were asking him where Nines was headed off to. Then he was scrambling up, swearing profusely to himself as he tried to yank on his jacket, grab his coffee from Connor, and find his wallet all at once.

“What are you freaking out about now Gav?” Tina asked, looking genuinely confused.

“That motherfucker stole my fucking keys!” He shouted angrily.

“He did?” Connor asked, bewildered, as Hank, Chris, and Tina dissolved into hysterical cackling like the traitors they were. Gavin scrambled around, ignoring his laughing coworkers, Connor a quiet mix of amused, confused, and concerned as he helped Gavin get situated with his tangled jacket.

“You know what? Fuck you-” Gavin pointed at Hank, “fuck you-” he pointed at Chris, “fuck you, I’m fucking revoking your best friend card-” he pointed at Tina, who couldn’t even pretend to be upset between her snickering fits, “and you-” he pointed at Connor, “if I go missing or am found in a fucking dumpster somewhere, I bequeath all my possessions to you. The gaming console, the apartment, all of it, because you’re at least pretending to not find my misery funny as hell, and I expect you to take good care of my cat, understood?”

“Of course Gavin, I’m contacting your lawyer to alert him of the update to your will as we speak.” Connor replied with a wry chuckle.

“Good. The rest of you can go to hell!” He shouted over his shoulder as he finally ran out of the bullpen, internally griping that it was only 9 in the morning and he already wanted to kill someone.

Driving with Nines in the passenger seat was a fucking nightmare. It seemed every time he so much as twitched he’d be waiting with bated breath for Nines to make a comment of some sort, but the android never did. It was completely and utterly silent, awkwardly so, but after a few minutes Gavin felt like turning on the radio would somehow signal a defeat, and he’d be damned if he lost this weirdass game of chicken. It didn’t help that Nines was staring at him. Constantly. Without fucking  _ blinking _ . When Nines finally broke the silence it was so unexpected Gavin nearly wrenched them off the road in his surprise.

“Detective-”

“For fuck’s sake tin can,” Gavin yelped as he righted them back onto the highway, “don’t fucking do that!”

“Apologies detective,” Nines replied, not looking the least bit apologetic, “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Yeah, sure you didn’t.” Gavin griped, trying to will his racing heartbeat to calm down. Fuck he wanted a cigarette. “Fucking- what do you want?”

“I merely wished to inform you that Lieutenant Anderson and Detective Connor will be meeting us at the crime scene; apparently they have reason to suspect it may be related to one of their current cases, and if it is they’ll be taking over the investigation.”

“Great. Was that really worth giving me a fucking heart attack over?”

“As I did not prompt a heart attack to occur, nor would that be physically probable in a physically active 36 year old male such as yourself, despite your smoking and eating habits-”

“Hey hold on just a fucking minute-”

“-I believe that question to be a pointless nonstarter that has no relevance to our current conversation. In the future I request you only speak to me if there’s something of value to be said.” A moment of silence passed, Gavin trying not to respond with his growing anger. Nines lifted a condescending eyebrow.

“I rather suspect we won’t be speaking much.” Alright, that was the last fucking straw. Scary ass FBI android or not, Gavin Reed didn’t let anyone push him around. With a screech of tires and the unhappy honking of the people behind him, Gavin took the next exit and pulled off next to the first abandoned building he saw.

“Detective, you do realize this isn’t the address of the crime scene-”

“Yes I fucking know this isn’t the crime scene, but you and I need to have a talk.” 

“Is that so? And we couldn’t have this oh-so-important discussion on the way?” Gavin glared at the android, anger only increasing when Nines merely quirked a knowing smile at him in return.  _ This fucking asshole is pissing me off on purpose. _

“Look, I don’t fucking know what I did to offend your delicate sensibilities-”

“Oh really?”

“-but I  _ don’t fucking care. _ You’re supposed to be a professional, same as me, so if we’re going to be working together for the next few months, I suggest you stop actively trying to piss me off.”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about, detective.” Nines replied, eyes narrowing slightly and smile growing. Swearing under his breath, Gavin took his keys out of the ignition and grabbed his box of cigarettes, opening his car door. “And where are you going?”

“I need a fucking smoke.”

“We’re supposed to go directly to the crime scene.”

“They can wait a few minutes.” He said, slamming his door shut and slumping back against it with a sigh. He knew if he didn’t have a cigarette to curb his stress now it’d be hard to concentrate at the scene, and he’d be damned if he let this whole situation with his partner interfere with his work as a detective. He’d barely managed to get it lit before he heard Nines climbing out of the car as well. Gavin tensed but refused to turn around, taking a long drag before Nines rounded the car to stand in front of him. There was no more of the vindictive amusement in the android's face, now there was only a blank, vaguely disapproving expression that almost hid the simmering resentment and what could’ve been hatred in the android’s icy-grey eyes.

_I don’t get it,_ Gavin thought to himself, _no_ _rmally it takes at least a few days for me to illicit this amount of hatred in someone. Wh_ _at the hell is this guy’s problem?_

Even though he was tempted to blow the smoke directly into Nines’ face, he also didn’t feel like actually ending up in a dumpster somewhere, so he turned his face to the side to release it from his lungs. 

“What tin can?” He asked, bringing the cigarette up to his lips for a second drag, only for Nines to pluck it out of his grip and drop it to the ground, grinding the stub beneath his heel without even glancing down at it. “Nines what the fuck?!” Before he could think better of it, Gavin reached up to shove against Nines’ shoulders. Within moments he was shoved back against his car with Nines’ forearm pressed against his throat, right wrist pinned against the door, his left hand trapped beneath Nines’ raised right knee.

“Listen carefully detective,” Nines said, grip tightening until it was almost painful before Gavin finally stopped struggling against the hold, blazing eyes fixed directly on Gavin’s, “I’m not here to play nice, I’m here to do my job and I don’t care who gets hurt feelings along the way. I might have to put up with you for now, but if you even think about getting in my way or inconveniencing me while I’m working, don’t think I won’t hesitate in getting you demoted. Are we clear?” Gavin couldn’t trust himself to do more than nod, so angry he was half-tempted to spit at the android. After a moment the android’s demeanor abruptly changed, going from pissed off killing machine to the vaguely polite pretense of before so quickly it sent an uncomfortable chill down Gavin’s spine. “Good.” He murmured, releasing Gavin and stalking back around the car to the passenger side. “Now let’s get a move on detective.” It took a few moments for Gavin to collect himself, but once he did he climbed back into the car without a word. It was silent the rest of the way to the crime scene.

Due to their little...detour, they only managed to get to the crime scene after Hank and Connor did, raising a few eyebrows but thankfully no questions. After arriving, Gavin did his best to avoid talking to Nines at all costs, but eventually he couldn’t stop himself when he saw what the android was doing near the body.

“Whoa whoa whoa! Nines, what the hell are you doing?” The android deigned to glance at him from where he was perched on the ground, crimson coating his fingers as he pulled them from his mouth.

“Analyzing the blood.” He replied matter-of-factly. Gavin thought Nines had no business looking at Gavin like he was a misbehaving child when the android was literally licking whatever he found like a two year old.

“Lemme get this straight, you can analyze blood and- and whatever else like a portable lab by  _ putting it in your mouth? _ ” The nearly imperceptible quirk of Nines’ mouth screamed smug amusement as he nodded in response.

“Un-fucking-believable.” Gavin dragged his hands over his face. They’d only been partners for a few hours, but he already felt like he was reaching the limits of his patience.

“Really makes you wonder what jackass was in charge of designing the RK line doesn’t it?” Hank said in a mix of disgust and resigned amusement at Gavin’s expense. Gavin didn’t have to wonder about this aspect of the RK line- this had Elijah’s whacked out sense of humor written all over it- he just didn’t know how on Earth Elijah managed to convince everyone else it was a good idea. He wasn’t even the CEO of Cyberlife anymore for fuck's sake!

_ Probably a blend of manipulation and blackmail in all honesty. _ Gavin thought to himself. He almost snorted in amusement, expecting nothing less from his bizarre older brother, before the bitterness of their last meeting poked intrusively into his thoughts. Shaking himself from the inevitable mental spiral, he glanced at Hank.

“Hey Anderson, you wanna trade?” Gavin grumbled quietly, gesturing to where Nines and Connor seemed more preoccupied with the crime scene than with listening to them. Hank merely grinned and laughed at him.

“Not on your life Reed.”

“Fucking great.”

“Lieutenant, I’m going to go check the basement.” Connor piped up from nearby.

“Alright kid, let me come with you.” A moment later Gavin was standing alone in the corner. Sighing and knowing he couldn’t put it off any longer, he walked closer to the victim’s body.

“Okay, what do we got?” 

“The victim was stabbed eight times in the torso, once in the left leg, and twice in the head. However, cause of death looks to be strangulation.” 

“Fuck, whoever killed this poor bastard  _ really _ didn’t like him.”

“Evidently not. You know, detective, it’s curious that a…  _ professional _ such as yourself uses profane language so regularly. I trust you speak with less vulgarity when interviewing witnesses and writing reports, yes?” Gavin heaved a long-suffering sigh, Nines’ eyes twinkling with condescending amusement. 

_Fuck._ It was going to be a long few months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha ha, this was all kinds of fun to write, and now we can start getting to the stuff I've really been looking forward to. >:)
> 
> Maybe in the next chapter (but more likely in the one after that) we'll start getting a clue as to why exactly Nines is so antagonistic towards Gavin, but in the meantime enjoy some of that good old fashioned banter and misunderstandings.
> 
> Let me know what you all think down in the comments, and thanks for continuing to read this mess lmao!

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, this is my first multiple chapter fic, so I'm not too sure how long it'll turn out to be. I'll try to update regularly, but I can make no promises; my schedule can get pretty hectic sometimes lol. Let me know in the comments what you thought and all that jazz, and thanks for reading!


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